Today, I was waiting in front of the barristas at my local Starbucks in the Parkside District of San Francisco. It was extremely busy, with a line heading out the door, and a horde hanging around the two young barristas waiting for their coffee.

"Man," said one to the other. Apparently he was new. "How do you deal with this."

The other thought for a second. The crowd waited. Then he said, "Well, you just have to practice a kind of detachment."

That's what I like. A little detachment in the morning! The Zen of Barristas.

A new feature. My friends and relatives tell me bizarre stories. Here is one I overheard today from a man I will only identify as P.

A few years ago, P was running Bay to Breakers -- the crazy marathon where people run in odd costumes, crazy stuff. At any rate, as he was crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, with thousands of people running around him, he notices the person in front of him is completely naked.

He cannot tell, because the person was so skinny, whether it was a man or a woman.

Unable to contain his curiosity, as he ran past he turned and look -- and was so stunned, he twisted his ankle and fell down.

He doesn't reveal whether it was a man or a woman, but he does say this -- he became road kill for the thousands of people who literally jumped over him for the next several hours.